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Should I Stop Pumping?

I have a 4 month old baby who I exclusively breastfeed, and when I'm away from him (currently not working), he gets a bottle of pumped milk. I've had take my milk and store it in freezers at my mom's house and my grandma's house, and today I estimated we have probably about 700oz saved up. Is it me, or does that seem like a whole freaking lot of milk?

Generally, I pump two times a day - once before I go to bed at night pumping both sides and once in the morning before my little one gets up or after he eats. The pump in the morning is usually one side plus a couple ounces from the other side. I do this because, if I don't, I get engorged overnight and start leaking all over the place.

Should I stop pumping or slow it down? How do I do that? Should I just pump a couple ounces on each side during these pumpings instead of a full session? My mom's freezer can't really take any more milk, and my grandma said something about her freezer starting to fill up too the last time I brought milk over. We may have to invest in a deep freeze in our apartment!!

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

I would ease off the pumping gradually so that you don't get plugged ducts and/or mastitis. I think you should consider donating some of that milk. It's going to be really difficult to use it all before it goes bad (3-4 months in a standard freezer). I didn't have nearly that much, worked part time, was hospitalized several days away from my baby and still ended up tossing milk because I couldn't use it all in time. Nursing is so much easier than bottles that a large freezer stash is really more trouble than it's worth sometimes.

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

with the PP. I would not just stop pumping because a) you don't have that long to use the milk since it is stored in a standard freezer, b) you never know what could happen to your stash (a power outage or lipase issue could kill it), c) simply stopping could make you engorged and put you at risk for plugs and mastitis, and d) if you pump enough for your baby's daily needs, you will be able to provide your baby with fresh milk, which is better for him than frozen, and also maintain an adequate milk supply for those days when you and your baby are together and you want to nurse, not give bottles.

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

Originally Posted by @llli*amarette

I have a 4 month old baby who I exclusively breastfeed, and when I'm away from him (currently not working), he gets a bottle of pumped milk. I've had take my milk and store it in freezers at my mom's house and my grandma's house, and today I estimated we have probably about 700oz saved up. Is it me, or does that seem like a whole freaking lot of milk?

I would start slowly cutting out the pump sessions if I were you. When you go to pump start by pumping for 1 min less at a time and you will slowly tell your body that you dont need so much milk.

Originally Posted by @llli*amarette

(currently not working)

Are you planning on going back to work??? If so I would consider getting all that milk into a deep freezer (it will last up to a year in a deep freeze). I would hold on to it until I knew that I did not have any issues with supply once returning to work.

Donating is a great idea. there are a few ways to go about it. You can donate to a milk bank (HMBANA) they will do blood test, require your and your LO's doc to sign off that you are both healthy and have you fill out a questioner. Eats on Feets and HM4HB can be found on Facebook and you may be able to hook up with a local mom in need, sometimes it is nice to see where your milk is going. Then there are banks like Milkin Mama's who work with Prolacta, which is a for profit company. They use some milk for research and then they make a human milk fortifier and pasteurize and bottle the milk. To my knowledge most milk that is donated to the milk banks (HMBANA & ones that work with Prolacta) is used in NICU's across the country to help critically ill babies, with the exception of what Prolacta uses for research .

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

Oh, I missed the part about you currently not working! If you're planning to stay home with your LO, I would slowly phase out the pumping altogether. If you are going back to work, I would still cut down on pumping, and maybe pump once a day if at all, ramping up again only when you are close to going back to work.

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

Thanks for all the input, ladies! I am currently not working... was laid off after the doctor released me back to work after being on medical leave through most of my pregnancy. I will be returning to work sooner or later. I am actively searching for work (hopefully in photography!!).

Some of the milk is in a deep freezer. I have probably 400oz in my grandma's deep freezer, about 170oz in my freezer at home (that I open and close relatively often), and probably about 175oz in my mom's secondary freezer (a refrigerator/freezer combo that is opened less than once a day).

I think my big fear is that my milk will start to dry up if I don't pump before I go to bed and after I get up. LO sleeps on average between 10 and 12 hours a night without getting up, and he has been taking a 2-3 hour nap about one hour after getting up in the morning, too. He feeds from one side per feeding, so by the time he wakes up from his morning nap, it could be 15-16 hours since one of my breasts was last emptied if I don't pump. That seems like a really long time to me!

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

if you are feeding on demand, your supply won't just spontaneously dry up. if it does decrease, he'll just start taking both breasts at a feed, and it will increase to meet what he needs again. enjoy some free time as you stop pumping!

Re: Should I Stop Pumping?

Talks again, ladies. I think I'll try and decrease my pumping and eventually cut out the night and morning pumps. Even when I go back to work, just on the milk we have stored alone without what I'll be pumping at work, we have enough for over 80 days if he has two bottles each work day we're apart.

I am also on WIC, so I brought it up to the nutritionist there when I had my appointment today, too. She suggested to put it in my 2 year old son's milk and food, and even our food if I was comfortable with it. I have actually already used some for some custard when I didn't have enough whole milk a few weeks ago, and put it in our mashed potatoes tonight. My husband really like both of those, and he was unaware that it was my milk.